From OMO to sprayed balls: Former Proteas Women teen star Johmari Logtenberg recalls a time before Laura Wolvaardt

A South African girl cricket prodigy that was equally excellent in academics. Several Matric distinctions with the ambitions of becoming a doctor.

Sounds like a familiar story doesn’t it? One that has been told a thousand times over about the brilliant Proteas Women’s captain Laura Wolvaardt.

But this is not about Wolvaardt. For long before “Wolfie” there was Johmari Logtenberg, who was even younger at 14 years old - Wolvaardt was 16 - when she debuted for the Proteas Women’s team at the Denis Compton Oval in Shenley, England back in August 2003.

And unlike Wolvaardt who only made her Test bow six years after first representing her country in ODI’s, Logtenberg went straight into the toughest format of the game. 

The teenager did not disappoint either, facing a mammoth 234 balls in her first international innings, scoring 74 in a 138-run fifth wicket partnership with Charlize van der Westhuizen.

Logtenberg’s toughest tests were not on the field though. Women’s cricket, and particularly for the Proteas, was an altogether different beast to the professional setup that Wolvaardt and her team now rightfully enjoys.

Due to playing in Division 2 for KwaZulu-Natal at the time, Logtenberg had in fact never even heard of - let alone met - her Proteas teammates before arriving at OR Tambo International ahead of the departure to England.

“I didn’t even know Linda Olivier and Daleen Terblanche and Sune van Zyl, they all went to New Zealand for the ODI World Cup in 2000, and I think we reached the semi-finals there as well," Logtenberg said.

“I didn't even know they existed until it was kind of brought to my attention when I moved down to Durban and our coach at Natal, his sister, played in the national team.

“So, ahead of my first tour, I’d never seen these girls, sorry women! And I was following them and they're like, ‘Why are you following me?’ And I'm like, ‘I think you're going on a cricket tour?’ And they were like, ‘Yes, but I mean, you’re young? And I'm like, ‘Yeah, but I'm playing for the South Africa Women's Cricket team.’”

But the real shock came in England. Despite being barely into her teens, Logtenberg suddenly had to do her own laundry, washing her trousers after each day’s play as the women’s national cricket team were not afforded a laundry allowance.

“Being 14 and you just want to dive everywhere; it's a bit of a different reality when you kind of learn the quality of Omo and Vanish. I literally got blisters on my hands trying to scrub out these green marks and dirt out of the pants ,” Logtenberg said.

“I remember fielding at Taunton and they hit the ball past and I turned around and I'm running. And I was like, am I going to slide? No, I'm probably not going to slide for this one.

“I was so glad when we played ODI cricket, because then at least the kit is green. And if you dived, at least I didn't get too many stains.”

Furthermore, whilst Logtenberg was still a schoolgirl enjoying an overseas cricket tour, the hard truths that her elder Proteas teammates faced started to hit home. 

“The thing that was crazy for me was, a lot of the players in my debut year were teachers. And a lot of them couldn't get off or could get leave from school. They had to actually pay the people that were substituting for them.

“So, the salary they were earning or getting from the school, they had to pay that to someone to actually take their place. Because, I mean, at that stage, we normally went for like a month overseas. So, that was quite crazy.”

She also never saw a white-cricket ball before in her entire life before her debut ODI at Chelmsford. But apparently the Proteas team team management had not been adequately prepared either. 

“I remember the first time I ever saw a white cricket ball. That was literally in the nets the day before making my debut,which was actually a day and night game and my first time ever playing under floodlights,” she said.

“But the real story was we only had a couple of white balls to train with, and we all know white balls scuff up quickly and lose their colour. So the coach got white spray paint from the hardware store and sprayed the balls white again.... worked well except it made balls rock hard so fielding practice was a nightmare and everyone's hands were so bruised.”

Despite the England tour being an eye-opener for Logtenberg, she loved every minute playing for the Proteas. It was the realisation of a childhood dream for “cricket is and will always be my first love”. 

“I remember being in my hotel room, looking at my shirt, and it had my surname at the back,” she said.

“And ironically enough, I was also number 14. I kind of just looked at it and I was like, this is it. This is what you dreamed of.”

Another early highlight followed when still a week short of her 15th birthday, Logtenberg top scored with a hard-hitting 67 to guide the Proteas to a thrilling one-wicket victory over an England side which included legends such as Charlotte Edwards (current England Women’s team coach), Claire Taylor and Jenny Gunn at the University of Port Elizabeth (now Nelson Mandela Bay Metropolitan University) Oval.

It was performances such as  these that earned her the Khaya Majola Amateur Cricket of the Year award and Women’s Cricketer of the Year prize at the annual SA Cricket Awards in 2004.

She still has the framed picture of a baby-faced her alongside Proteas Men’s greats Jacques Kallis, Makhaya Ntini and Jacques Rudolph up on her office wall in Tzaneen, where she now practices as a chiropractor.

All of these accolades set Logtenberg up as the poster girl of the upcoming home ICC Women’s World Cup in 2005, but by her own admission the extra pressure of media responsibilities and performing at major Test venues such as Centurion, which she had only witnessed her male heroes such as Kallis, Ntini and Rudolph playing at before, was overwhelming as she and the Proteas endured a disappointing World Cup campaign.

“We got to the World Cup and there were massive expectations. Kass Naidoo had come in and tried to teach us how to handle the media and how to present yourself in talks. It was all so different to what we were used to,” 

“I also remember the World Cup against Ireland at Centurion. My whole family was there. As a little kid, you know, watching Lance Klusener and Steve Elworthy and everybody walking down the steps of Centurion, and all of a sudden, I'm walking down.

“I remember reaching the pitch and I was just crying. Daleen Terblanche was like, you need to pull yourself together. I didn't see the first two balls at all.”

The experience proved crucial to Logtenberg’s growth - both as a cricketer and individual - and went on to enjoy her most successful period in international cricket, scoring her maiden ODI hundred against Pakistan - the youngest women’s batter to reach the milestone until Wolvaardt broke the record nine years later - and career-best 153 not out against the Netherlands in 2007, which formed part of a record unbeaten 224-run partnership with Mignon du Preez.

Ironically, it would be Logtenberg’s last ODI innings, as she was reaching the end of her schooling and could no longer play cricket “for the love of the game” and had to consider her future options.

And unlike when Wolvaardt was posed with a similar scenario when she matriculated a decade later from Parklands College, the women’s game was not yet in the position to provide Logtenberg with realistic career opportunities 

“I had offers from England and Australia to play club cricket, but it wouldn’t have been like an all-inclusive ‘holiday’ if I could say it like that. They would pay for my flights and accommodation, and I would earn money by coaching at the club," she said.

“But I wanted to study something in the medical field and be a professional athlete. 

Growing up my dream was always to be a professional cricketer. It then came to a point where I had to choose a career path.

“My dad approached the KZN cricket union and asked whether they will be able to assist in finding a solution in which I could do both. Unfortunately, we were told that they didn’t have a good existing relationship with the Chiropractic department at the Durban University of Technology and that I would be on my own.

"So, I had to choose between my heart (cricket) and my brain (Chiropractic), and that’s when I started my golfing journey after cricket. Ladies golf was the fastest growing sport at the time, its future was bright, and I could achieve my dream of being a professional athlete.”

The dream of becoming a professional golfer was unfortunately not attained. This was not due to lack of ability as she had won the B division of the SA Women’s Amateur Golf Open in 2008 just three months after picking up a golf club, but rather 

due to her experiencing severe ankle pain, which was later diagnosed as a bilateral talo-calcaneal coalition.

It transcended into her current chiropractic career after attaining her Masters in Technology: Chiropractic, graduating with 39 distinctions from Durban’s University of Technology in 2018.

Whilst Logtenberg obtains greater satisfaction from helping prospective athletes in achieving their ambition, she would still trade all of this to be part of Wolvaardt’s Proteas team contesting the ICC World Cup final against India in Navi Mumbai. 

“I would give my life for the Proteas to win on Sunday,” Logtenberg said. “I think the team needs it, but also the country needs it to finally put to rest the ‘choker’ label that so unfairly gets dished out at every big disappointment the Proteas go through.

“I think being an ex-player you only realise now how much goes into actually winning an international game and even more so a World Cup. 

“It would be really incredible. After that first game a lot of people had their doubts, but the team has come back every time, which shows how far our depth really goes.

“I will have all my toes and fingers crossed on Sunday. It’s going to be a special occasion.”